


Canvas and paper hearts

by llamabunnybird



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brothers Germany & Prussia (Hetalia), Coffee Shops, Cute, Cute Ending, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hetalia Big Bang 2020, Hetalia Countries Using Human Names, M/M, Museums, Slow Burn, Study Date, Study abroad au, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Travel, Travelogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:33:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23739895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/llamabunnybird/pseuds/llamabunnybird
Summary: Ludwig was a researcher Feliciano was a barista studying art abroad of course love or like was inevitable
Relationships: Germany/North Italy (Hetalia)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kiwiswonders](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwiswonders/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of the Hetalia Big Bang 2020 Project on Tumbler. Thank you so much to Kiwiswonders' for the beautiful art that goes with the story <3

Ludwig sighed as he looked up at the grey concrete building. Rolling his shoulders to stretch the ache they had from being slumped over papers all week, he pulled out his reading pass to show when he got up to the door. It was a busy day at the British Museum, and tourists and researchers alike had to wait their turn for bag checks and, in his case, to be swiped into the archive. At least it wasn’t raining. It had rained his first day there and in a rush to get to the museum when it opened to get his pass and find the rhythm of work he had forgotten his umbrella. His picture on the pass had been of a very damp blond man with stress wrinkles forming at the corners of his eyes. Something his brother Gilbert had teased him about when he sent a picture of the card in the family chat.

“You’re only 27 Lud, you gotta chill otherwise those wrinkles are gonna stick.”

Ludwig had rolled his eyes, but his brother was probably right. His final project for his degree had been stressful as he had the application to various grants and funding to even go for the research. But here he was, and honestly, as he breathed in the crisp London air, he thought it was worth it.

He tapped his foot as the line was still not moving. He was only four people away, but it felt like ages had passed. Peering around the people in front of him, he saw that the hold up was from tourists. Americans he thought glumly as he watched the man arguing with the museum security about the size of his backpack. Ludwig’s bag was the perfect size. Before he had left for London from New York, he had measured, and triple checked that it would fit his laptop, notebook, and pencils. “Tourists,” he grumbled under his breath as he finally was able to walk up to the door and through the metal detectors. Passing his bag to the guard who poked through it with a baton, he handed his reading pass to the next person and after getting his bag back headed through to the museum archives.

He smiled once he got to the locker room. His favorite one, number 42, was available. Gilbert would have laughed, but honestly, it was a relief to know that he’d remember which one was his. The large sign telling visitors to take a picture of their locker meant that others were less lucky. Pulling his glasses and laptop out and tucking his phone and headphones in his pocket Ludwig squared his shoulders and went off to battle (actually he was requesting files, but the accessions clerk was scary!)

“It’s Ludwig,” he repeated again to the Clerk. “ I registered my request for files yesterday night? You told me they would be in from Kew today?”

“Hmmm,” the Clerk said, scrolling through her list of requests, “I have files 1/3/0/8-2/4/0/12 but not the other set yet.”

Sighing, Ludwig shrugged, “I suppose can I have the first four boxes now?” It was 9am if he went through a box an hour, he could possibly fit in a lunch break today.

“Sure,” the Clerk said, “Pick your desk and put your number on it.”

Taking the little yellow number stand, Ludwig wandered through the little maze of desks, lights, and book rest. Picking a table halfway between the door and the circulation desk, he put the number on the hanger and set up his laptop and notes.

Dating the page and the word document Ludwig prepped for the day. While his advisor had told him not to stress about the details and simply take good notes, Ludwig knew that without a format, he would never remember which things went with what boxes.

The Clerk nudged his shoulder, “desk 4, Ludwig?”

“Yes,” Ludwig said, taking the pile of boxes from her and setting them in order by date on the table. “Thanks,” he said, but she had already left for the front desk.

Pushing his glasses up, Ludwig huffed, looking at the mountain of folders in each box. Then he smiled. It was like a big puzzle. And while Ludwig was not much of a talker, one of his favorite things was being able to read old letters, it was like watching TV or an argument that you weren’t part of online. Entertaining and maybe helpful. Hopefully helpful. Best to get started then.

* * *

Feliciano was busy doing prep work. It was 7:30. At 8am tourists would flood the little pastry and coffee cafe, and by 9am the counter would be sticky with syrup, tea, and coffee. But for now, everything was perfect, and the counter shined. Humming to himself, Feliciano put the finishing touches on the little book cookies, the tiny frosted lines mimicking writing. The coffee machine behind him dinged, and he put the icing bag down to check on it.

“Eliza! The water’s ready,” he called over to his friend, who was setting up the coffee and tea sugar and milk table.

“On it!” She was fanning out the napkins, so they looked nice on the table.

She eyed his cookies as she went by. “Those look really good,” she said encouragingly.

“Thanks,” Feliciano said happily as he put them aside and finished the display case. He had spent all spring practicing his bag work and was thrilled to be interning somewhere where his skills were appreciated. Halfway through a degree in pastry arts and marketing and his brother Lovino had nudged him to try something more than just family and fast food pastries. A summer moonlighting as a pastry artist in Europe was just the thing to maybe let Feliciano into a better position back in the States.

Humming softly, he checked the icing on the lavender scones that were next on his morning list of things to do, and he began cleaning up arranging them on a platter.

“Put one aside for me, and I’ll make you a cafe mocha,” Eliza asked, batting her eyes as she put her hair up in a bun for her shift and flipping the sign on the desk by the register.

“Fineeeee,” Feliciano said, rolling his eyes and looking over the little tower of scones. Which one looked the least good? Picking the one with a small crack in the back, he put it aside on a plate for Eliza, took off his apron, and stretched. Another day living the dream. Well, as much a dream as one could as the crowds poured across the museum floor, and he began helping Eliza wait on customers.

* * *

It was 1pm, and Ludwig could feel a soft throbbing behind his eyes as he finished reading the last section of folder 2/4/0/3. Flipping through the stack of documents, he sorted them into piles: not important, not important, maybe important (“picture 8 a photo of a soldier near an oak tree”) he took a picture and made a note, and the last piece of paper was a newspaper article. Pushing his glasses up, Ludwig squinted at the blurring writing and decided it was worth another picture and note so he could look at it later when he went home. Carefully putting everything way in order, he closed the file stacking it with the others he had been looking at all morning and shuffled them gently into their box. Glancing around at the others in the reading room, Ludwig began picking up his things quietly. Without his headphones in, he could hear the rain on the skylight above him. It was nice ambient noise, although he wasn’t sure if anyone else could hear it. The majority of researchers had headphones and didn’t glance up as he picked up his bag and took the box back up to the desk.

“I’ll be back in an hour for the next set,” he told the bored-looking man at the desk who simply nodded as he scrolled through what looked like a chat room.

Shrugging Ludwig walked down the passage out to the main floor, showed his laptop, paper, and pencils to the security guard and was let back out into the main museum. Ludwig stretched his shoulders and walked by the water, drop covered windows. When he got to the lobby, he decided it was a coffee sort of day. Ludwig had walked to the chip stand down the street the day before, and while it was delicious, it had been harder to go back inside afterward. Between the rain and the lingering urge to stay out, if he left, it was better to stay inside and finish his work for the day. If Ludwig was done by 5 and it stopped raining, he could go to a public concert after all. Arching across the lobby past the giant gift shop to the museum’s cafe, he waited in the line, absently thinking of what he had left to do for the day. The archivist had pulled two more boxes of folders and if there were 29 more to look at in the next week, and it was Monday…. Lost in thought, Ludwig was brought back to the present by the hand waving in front of him.

Blinking, he focused on the cheery man who had asked him a question. “Excuse me, I didn’t quite catch that,” looking at the man’s name tag “Feliciano?”

“I asked what you were thinking of getting,” Feliciano said with a smile. If you aren’t sure, we make a good toasty and tea.

“Ah,” Ludwig thought about it for a second. “I don’t suppose you sell expresso, do you?” (Gilbert had told him that tea was the thing in England, but Ludwig hadn’t expected some cafes to not have expresso machines at all).

“We do!” Feliciano exclaimed, “Just came in! What would you like?”

“Four shots over ice, no milk or cream,” Ludwig said with a sigh of relief. “Oh, and can I have one of the scones too? I have my readers pass?” Pulling it out, he let Feliciano scan it for the research discount. “Thank you,” he said, swiping his card.

“No problem,” Feliciano said, handing him his receipt. “It’ll be right up!”

Stepping aside, Ludwig looked for an open table choosing one by the window so he could people watch and plug in his phone at the same time. For some reason, his converter wouldn’t work in the archive room. Flipping through messages from family members who had just woken up, Ludwig smiled at the dog picture his mother had sent. Good puppies.

“Expresso and scone” Feliciano called from the counter

Putting his things down, Ludwig kept an eye on them while he fetched his snack and caffeine.

Settling in on the stool Ludwig stretch his shoulders again. He had often teased his father for the round-shouldered slump Dietrich had permanently acquired as a math teacher, but it looked like Ludwig was about to pick it up as well. Flipping through his social media, Ludwig remembered he would need to pick up more postcards and stamps that day for his friends and family. Honestly, he wondered if they would arrive back in the United States before he did. Either way, a neat postcard with the Magna Carta or something ‘English’ would work as a souvenir.

People watching while he sipped his expresso Ludwig noticed the barista from earlier putting up an ad for an art and music display the next evening. Glancing outside, Ludwig looked at the weather on his phone. If it didn’t stop raining, maybe he could go to that instead tomorrow instead of just going back to the hostel. While the variety of people there made for interesting conversation, sometimes it was just nice to walk outside.

Letting the sound of people chattering wash over him, Ludwig finished his expresso and scone. Stretching his shoulders again as he prepared to head back to the archive. Stopping to read the advertisement for the next day’s art and music expo. He looked over to the counter where the crowd had died down.

“Is it likely to be a big expo?” he asked Feliciano, who was leaning against the counter and people watching.

“What? Oh yes! I’m displaying, and so are some other interns here,” Feliciano said happily.

“You do art?” Ludwig asked curiously, ignoring the little voice that said he should be getting back to work.

“I did all the pastries here, but I also do some art on the side, yes,” Feliciano said, pointing out his small book cookies.

“Oh nice” said Ludwig “Well have a good afternoon?”

“You too!” Feliciano said with a wave as Ludwig walked off.

Back to work and another 5 boxes to go.


	2. Chapter 2

Feliciano dusted off his hands as he finished forming the next day’s croissants. Feliciano gently draped wrap over them as they would proof in the fridge, and he wondered if he should make an extra batch of scones for the morning rush tomorrow. Eliza was finishing cleaning out the display case crumbs and paper falling into the wash bucket as she went. As Feliciano began wiping down the counters and prepping for the next day, he began planning for dinner. While there was food available at the school building he was at, it was…very English. Usually, Feliciano stopped at Tesco’s on the way home and picked up odds and ends to make his own dinner. As he finished the workspace, Feliciano began organizing the coffee rack and pushing in the chairs in their little lobby, pausing to look out the window at the setting sun and the tourists milling around the red brick square.

“Don't forget to go through the bulletin board before you leave Feliciano,” Eliza called as she pushed the kitchen door open with her foot.

“I know, I know,” Feliciano said, putting his washing-up bucket by the register and walking over to the pinboard. Looking through the advertisements and cultural events, Feliciano began sorting out the ones that had already passed and the ones that were clearly scams (nobody had asked him to put up the ‘make 1000 at home’ poster) repositioning them to make the whole board look nice. As he placed the advertisement for the art expo in the center of the board, he wondered if the tall man from earlier would be coming to the art show tomorrow. Feliciano had met many people during his few weeks at the museum, some cute and some creepy, but overall, it was still nice to meet people. With so many people from around the world coming in and out of it, Feliciano marked his days by interesting people. He thought he spotted the gentleman from earlier in the square as he began getting ready to leave and smiled. Maybe there was potential for a new friend.

* * *

Ludwig smiled as he looked up at the purple-red sky framed by tall buildings. It had finally been a productive day, the second set of boxes in the afternoon had held a treasure trove of information and letters between the individuals he was studying. If he had more ‘good’ days like this, he might have time for a few day trips to the countryside. While he had hoped for such a result, he hadn’t gotten his hopes up after the first few unproductive days. Debating if he wanted to walk back to the hostel to drop off his notes and laptop or go to dinner first, he sat on the red brick ledge near the fountain. Taking a photo of the front of the museum with his phone, he sent it to his parents and decided it would be better to drop his things off at the hostel and then walk to dinner. While Ludwig had begun taking the ‘long’ way to the archive in the morning in order to stretch more and have some air before work, having a solid walk after seemed to help as well. Putting in headphones, Ludwig set off down the side ally of the courtyard and out into the street. Pausing to watch the traffic go by as he waited to cross, he smiled as he watched what people internally debate if it was worth crossing during a red light. In New York, traffic lights were sacred, well less sacred, but more of a liability people would not hesitate to run you over. Here though, it seemed that if a critical mass of individuals all crossed at once, things worked out. Pausing to take a picture as he walked past Kings Cross station, Ludwig texted his brother to ask if he wanted him to pick up any house merchandise one afternoon. While Ludwig was a Hufflepuff, Gilbert was most definitely a Slytherin.

Walking along the road, he considered inviting one of his roommates to go to dinner with him. The chatter of other students was sometimes nice, and Antonio and Kiku were doing interesting research at the University College London and Wellcome Library. Still thinking, Ludwig rang the bell next to the stoop and waited to be buzzed in. Waving to the desk worker, Ludwig went up the stairs turning of the pot of whistling tea as he went by the kitchenette near his room. Knocking on the door across from his, he said “Water’s hot Emile” and then unlocked his room.

Ludwig’s room was tidy with a folder set on the desk. Pulling out casual clothing for the evening, Ludwig hung up his nicer cardigan and began unpacking his notes from the day. Putting them under “Week 2 Tuesday notes,” Ludwig made sure his bag was set for the next day, taking his wallet out and putting it in his pocket. Quickly changing, Ludwig went to knock on Kiku’s slightly ajar door.

“Hey Kiku,” he said, “Were you planning on dinner here or…”

Kiku looked up from his laptop. “I was going to make food with Emil later,” he said, “Emil was thinking of soup ?”

“Sounds good,” Ludwig replied, “I was thinking of going to the pub by the river we went to last week its trivia night.”

“You should ask Matthew,” Kiku said, putting his headphones back on.

Shrugging Ludwig went to look for Matthew. The class must have been rough for Kiku to say no to trivia, he thought as he went to the basement. Sure enough, Matthew and Chris were playing video games on the old systems that the hostel had set up for residents. Watching them play, Ludwig considered asking for a turn as well, but it looked like Lukas was up next to play.

“Hey, Matt,” he asked as Lukas took the controller. “Were you eating here or…”

“You want to redeem last week’s trivia disaster,” Matthew said dryly as he stretched

Ludwig shrugged, “I can’t believe that the final question was about cricket, who knows that?”

“People in England,” Lukas said, settling on the couch.

Matthew picked up his things and headed for the door. “Triva’s at 8 right, Ludwig ?”

“Yes,” Ludwig said letting him go by

“I’m down to come I’ll ask Margaret if she wants to come too. I think she knows sports,” Matthew said as he went upstairs. “Meet you in 20 on the steps?”

“Sounds good,” Ludwig said.

* * *

Feliciano went through the produce aisle again. There had to be tomatoes somewhere! He had been planning a pasta dish with pesto and chicken for dinner. He had prepped before work with the chicken neatly labeled in the communal fridge and marinating, and now he simply needed the tomatoes and basil. Finally, settling on the small cherry tomatoes instead of the normal Roma ones, Feliciano headed towards the till. Pilling his groceries onto the scanning belt, Feliciano grabbed his reusable bag out of his satchel, checked out, and headed home. The cool breeze and faint smell of the Thames made him wrinkle his nose. As he wandered down the side streets back to the small student house near the University of London, he began mapping out his evening. Maybe he would draw the skyline tonight from his window. Or maybe after eating dinner, he would call home. His grandfather would like that. Feliciano had finally managed to walk him and his brother through the call/text app that let them call overseas. The text he had sent at lunch of his cookies almost gone, and the rainy London puddles had been ‘read’ so theoretically it was working.

Swiping his card and opening the door to the house, Felicano brushed off his shoes and went down to the kitchen in the basement. Felix was already there cooking something that smelled like garlic and mushrooms.

“Smells good, Felix,” Feliciano said happily as he put his groceries down in the kitchen and dropped his satchel on the cafeteria bench near him. Pushing his sleeves up, Feliciano began pulling out the things he would need for dinner.

“I’ll trade you some,” Felix said absently, adding more pepper to what Feliciano now saw was soup.

“I’m making a pesto pasta chicken dish would that pair well with mushroom soup?” Feliciano asked.

“I think so?” Felix said, moving to let Feliciano place a pot of water on to boil.

“Sounds good then,” Feliciano said, beginning to cut up his tomatoes and crush the basil.

One delicious meal and tedious cleanup later, Feliciano was sitting on the window ledge of his bedroom, looking out over the London roofs. He had taken a picture earlier in the morning and was now thinking about if he could make a series of guach paintings from the contrasts between night and day. “Yes, Lovino, I’m being safe,” he said, annoyed by his broken train of thought as his brother finally stopped talking to ask how he was. “tourism is a heck of a thing though there are so many different people.”

“And they all like your baking because you’re the best,” Lovino said smugly, and Feliciano smiled in the dusk.

“Yeah, they really do,” he said, “Well, tell grandpa I love him. I’m going to draw a bit before bed. Early mornings you know.”

“I know,” Lovino said, “Talk to you tomorrow?”

“I’ll try and call after the art expo. I’ll send a picture, though!”

“Sounds good talk to you then “

“Bye,” Feliciano hung up the phone and picked up the sketchpad resting on the ledge. Pulling a pencil from behind his ear, Feliciano began outlining a drawing of the skyline in charcoal. The peaks and squares of the flat roofs contrasting with the tall, angular buildings in the distance.

He could hear people laughing in the street below “must be Tuesday” he thought roughly filling in the shading around the street lamps he could see. Usually, the others on his floor went out, but tonight seemed to be quiet in the house. Felix had mentioned that the students there for an English course had a project due that week. Finishing his outline, Feliciano began picking up and preparing for the next day. He had given his art prints for the expo to Francis the other day over lunch and would leave work early to finish setting up with the final touches. Packing his cards with his website in his satchel Feliciano pulled out a change of clothes as well so he wouldn’t look so…café the next day.

Going to bed with a sense of a good day to come, Feliciano smile as he turned off the light.


	3. Chapter 3

Ludwig blinked up at the white ceiling. His mouth felt like something had died in it. Groaning and rolling over to bury his face in the pillow until his alarm rang twenty minutes later, Ludwig rethought his life and his choices. Upside, they won trivia. Downside the prize was beer, and neither Matthew nor Ludwig were about to not drink free beverages. Sometime during their celebration of winning, they had kept drinking. Ludwig vaguely remembered getting home and flopping into the bed. Resigning himself to a miserable morning, he slid out of bed. He chided himself mentally. He was far too old to be out drinking like some young college student. Shuffling into the shower, he turned on the kettle before he got in so he could have instant coffee on the way to the museum.

Thirty minutes later, he was out the door with a wave at the morning door woman and a sheepish nod at Matthew, who looked like he was skipping a day at the tourist internship he was at. Sipping his coffee as he walked down the street, he blinked at the uncharacteristic sunny day. Maybe it was because he was later leaving the hostel? Or perhaps it was just a sunny day. By the time Ludwig reached the museum, the caffeine and sunshine had helped the fog he felt, and as he waited in line for the museum considered if he wanted to take an easy day at the archives. If he sifted through another 2 boxes and they were _good_ boxes, he could ditch by 2pm and just walk London or maybe go do something? He had been arriving at the museum or libraries every day they were open at 8:30 sharp each morning and staying as long as his eyes held out. Usually, by 4, the pages were blurry, and his brain had stopped working. Tiny words and old paper were like the air he breathed somedays, and Ludwig wouldn’t trade it for anything. But sometimes it was nice to see the sun, and if this was a working vacation, maybe he needed a small vacation?

Still thinking, Ludwig went through his usual process, signing in and stashing his cup and his extra things in the locker room before heading to the archive.

Settling in at his workstation Ludwig gently stacked the files and the books in today’s box into the order he was going to look at them. Early 20th century letters on the Great War were a mix of romantic ‘wish you were here's’ and poorly censured complaints about the terrible conditions. What Ludwig was looking for, however, were stories and sketches of the front. Inspired by his great grandfather’s notes found after they cleaned out the house years again, Ludwig thought that maybe others had drawn or written about the war while there. It was worth a shot anyway. Yesterday he had found faded pictures and stories of a man’s friends on the front as well as sketches of another man’s tent and a dog he had found and kept.

Putting in headphones, Ludwig got to work.

* * *

Feliciano was having a good day. Everything had gone smoothly in the morning from his pastries to his scones, and Felciano hoped it was a good omen for the afternoon. The sun was shining through the windows of the café, making patterns on the stone floor as he put the last washing up bucket of dishes in the back. Eyeing the clock, Feliciano wondered if he had enough time to clock out and have a snack before he changed and left. Deciding it would be worth it, Feliciano gathered his things waving to Eliza as he went to sit by the only seat left, near a window in the sun to eat. Pulling out his sandwich, Feliciano people watched as he ate. It was a slower day for visitors, but a busy day for school trips the sun outside had probably made people do outdoor excursions instead of indoor ones. Feliciano wondered if it would be nice that weekend. He was supposed to go to Bath on Saturday and was hoping to sketch there. Even if it rained, Feliciano would still enjoy it, though. The classical statues and small pubs would make a nice change from the bustling city he had been in for the last month. As Feliciano was thinking, he noticed the man from the previous day looking for a spot to sit tables full of teens making it impossible to find a place alone. Waving him over, Feliciano moved his things back to his side of the table.

“I’m leaving in a second if you need a spot to sit for lunch,” he said, checking the time on his phone.

The other man nodded awkwardly and put his things down. As Feliciano nibbled the last of his sandwich, he noticed that the other man had gotten another scone today. “You must like my scones,” he said with a smile.

The other man nodded, “They’re very good. I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name yesterday…?”

“Feliciano,” Feliciano said, picking up his trash and getting ready to leave.

“I’m Ludwig,” the other man said.

“Nice to meet you, Ludwig,” Feliciano said with a smile, “Were you still thinking of coming to the art expo this afternoon?”

Ludwig sighed, and Feliciano noticed that he seemed tired.

“I can’t I have work to do…”

“It’s okay. You must be doing research?” Feliciano asked, scooting away from the table and picking up his things.

“Yes,” Ludwig said, putting his bag with his notes on the table. He was hoping for a productive lunch break.

“Well, good luck,” Feliciano said with a wave.

* * *

Ludwig watched him walking away, wishing he could go to the art expo after all. But the morning’s files were useless, and now he had to figure out which out of the hundreds of boxes in the collection _might_ be useful. It was a bit like battleship some days. Four tables in a row might be good, and then Ludwig would have three boxes of interesting but not quite useful things. While the morning’s boxes had been interesting and the letters and autobiographies of the soldiers would maybe be useful as background information, they were ultimately not any use for the main body of his thesis.

Crossing off the four boxes this morning from his list of ‘maybes’ he had made when he was back in New York, Ludwig sipped his coffee and thought for a second. Maybe boxes 24B and 32.5A? Pulling out his laptop Ludwig requested the boxes and finished his coffee. Stretching his shoulders again, Ludwig checked his email and picked up his things. Wandering back through the museum, Ludwig dropped postcards into the red mailbox by the door before going back to the archives. When he got to the clerk’s desk, however, they had bad news.

“Sorry, sir,” She said, flipping through the many requests. “It looks like they won’t be in till tomorrow.”

“But, all of the materials are held here?”

“All of the materials except Collection 4 which are held in Kew, which is what boxes and 24B and 32.5A are from,” She said, putting her tablet away. “They should be in by lunchtime tomorrow.

Ludwig rubbed his temples “fine, I guess,” he said, sliding his list of boxes over to her. “Can you tell me which of these are also in Kew?”

She began putting an x by the ones from Kew. “You’ve been here days, sir,” she said as she did it. “Maybe you need a break…”

“Maybe,” Ludwig said taking the list

As he went back to the locker room, he looked at his watch. 2pm, maybe he could go to the art expo after all.

* * *

Secretly Feliciano was disappointed that Ludwig was not coming to the art expo. Still, it seemed like he would be seeing him around more. From what Feliciano had seen over the last month, researchers seemed to come for a few weeks at a time before they went back to wherever they were from. Since he had only seen Ludwig once the odds were good, he would see him at least over the next few weeks. Especially if Ludwig liked his baking. Smiling, Feliciano quickly changed and straightened out his messy hair. The humidity of the kitchen made his cowlick worse, and he always had to flatten it during the summer. Nodding at himself in the mirror, Feliciano left the staff bathroom and went to catch the tube.


	4. Chapter 4

Feliciano stepped off the train onto the busy platform school children and tourists moving everywhere. Edging around the chaotic main path, Feliciano made it to the stairs and up to fresh air. Walking along the street, Feliciano let the bright sunshine wash over his face and smiled, picking up his pace to get to the expo building quicker. Nodding to Tim, the desk man Feliciano waved to his friends as he walked into the large room with tables and booths scattered in a maze of artistic variety. Hurrying to his spot Feliciano took out his more recent drawings and pastels, pulling his bins from under the table and setting them up so people could see each one. While the focus was supposed to be the art they had created abroad, Felciano had also included some of his pieces from home. Tucking his business cards into the center spot of his table, Feliciano stretched and looked at the display.

“I think the left corner piece is crooked,” Martin said, glancing over as he touched up his own table.

“Hmmm,” Feliciano said, trying to straighten it out.

Finally, finishing his set up, Feliciano went to look at the other’s booths. Martin was doing a ceramics program over the summer, and his stoneware looked nice. Alyssa’s abstract art made out of found things was…interesting. Feliciano was really looking for Felix’s table and waved when he saw the other student. Felix was in London for a painting masterclass program, and his oils were beautiful. Felix had also displayed his paintings of home the misty Baltic sea and snowy cityscape of Warsaw on one side of his table.

Checking his phone, Feliciano realized that people would be there soon moving back to his table he double checked everything was set up and waited. It was showtime.

Ludwig finished packing his things up for the day, fitting his mug, laptop, and notes into his satchel like a puzzle. Hiking it over his shoulder, Ludwig went back up the stairs to the café. Skirting the coffee line, Ludwig looked for the notice on the board and began trying to find the location of the expo on his phone. It looked like it was near the university by his hostel on the opposite side of the circle? Turning his phone sidewise, Ludwig tried to visualize where the building was. Deciding he would simply head to the university and then try to find it, Ludwig set off into the sunlight.

As he walked the familiar streets back to the university, he was reminded of the first day he had arrived. A little bit lost and carrying his luggage from the tube all the way back up to the hostel blocks away. He could pinpoint which tourists were in the same boat now. Bags in hand and phones out looking for directions. If he ever came back, he was simply catching a cab from the airport. Between the tube fare and the sore ankle from his luggage hitting it for a mile and a half, it was simply easier to take a cab than to take two tubes and walk it.

Moving around a large tour group outside of the Wellcome Library, Ludwig turned the corner to the University College of London campus the tall old buildings and red brick walls shutting out the noise from the busy main street behind him. As Ludwig got to the circle, he looked around. Somewhere here was a school building with an expo hall for the University, but all of the buildings around him looked similar from the outside. Deciding to check the map again on his phone, Ludwig turned, trying to match the buildings on the map to the buildings around him. Deciding it had to be the large building on the corner, Ludwig set off purposefully edging around the college students blocking the street. As he walked in the door, Ludwig realized he must be at the right spot as a small crowd milled inside, some of whom he recognized as students from his house. This must be the event that Matthias had mentioned having this week. Waving to the tall Danish man, Ludwig went around the table of hors-d’oeuvres and followed the sign for the main hall.

There was a much larger crowd there people spilling through the entryway into the corridors on either side. Walking in, Ludwig was struck by the variety of art on display. While many tables had experimental art with flowers made out of old books and masks made out of repurposed fabric, other tables had mugs and political art. Ludwig wasn’t sure what sort of artist Feliciano was, but he was willing to bet it was not the sort that made masks of Margaret Thatcher out of condoms. Weaving his way through the maze of booths, he finally spotted Feliciano in the back. Heading towards him, Ludwig suddenly felt nervous, here he was some random person Feliciano had just met at a café, and he had told Feliciano he wasn’t coming. Deciding to take a moment to look at some of the other artists while he thought out what to do, Ludwig stopped at what looked like a table full of tiny crystal animals.

Realizing they were all blown glass, he looked at the video the artist had set up, showing how she had made a tiny cow figurine.

“That’s really neat,” he said to the artist, eyeing the tiny cow on the table that was the end product.

“Thanks,” she said, “If you want to see more I have an online inventory and do webstreams where you can watch me make them, here’s my card.”

Taking it, Ludwig made a mental note to come back for a little eagle he had spotted on the table that he knew his brother would love.  
Taking a deep breath, Ludwig decided to walk over to Feliciano’s table and explain how his day had been derailed. Walking over, however, Ludwig saw that Feliciano was talking to another customer and looked like he was taking an order. Waiting for the other man to leave, Ludwig looked at the art on display. Feliciano was clearly more than just a pastry artist. Looking at the cityscapes and the pastel portraits of fields, Ludwig wondered what on earth the artist was doing just being at the museum café.   
As the other man stepped away, Feliciano waved Ludwig over.

“Hey,” Ludwig said awkwardly.   
“Hey,” Feliciano replied, looking surprised “I didn’t think you were coming” he tucked the order slip away into the receipt bag he had behind the displays.  
Ludwig shrugged, “ I figured it was time for a break, and they didn’t have what needed today anyways, and I thought I might make it in time?....”  
Feliciano smiled. “Well, I’m sorry they didn’t have what you needed, but it’s nice to see you. What do you think? It’s a pretty large expo, isn’t it?”   
Ludwig smiled back. “You were right, it is pretty big! I can’t believe how many different genres are here,” he said, waving a hand at the many tables.

Feliciano laughed. “Well, they did combine several of the summer programs into an event,” he said with a shrug, “You can see the costuming abroad class over there and the fundamentals of ceramics group over there,” he pointed.

Now that Ludwig was paying attention, he did notice the invisible lines that seemed to be drawn between the different groups or classes. “So which class are you here for?” he asked, opening the portfolio on the table.

“I’m here for a baking internship, and I’m doing a partial art residency for the summer as a side project” Feliciano replied, “technically I’m not supposed to be here, but the coordinator didn’t mind, and I’m using the school art studio anyway two days a week so…”

“Well, your work is beautiful,” Ludwig said, flipping through the portfolio “did you draw them all here?”  
Feliciano shook his head” no, some of them are from home” he pointed to the pastel pictures of fields throughout the seasons and an old barn.

“Oh,” Ludwig said. “well, your home looks beautiful” he closed the book and shifted awkwardly.

Feliciano nodded, “It is nice, and I miss it, but I enjoy being here too.”

“Where are you from ?” Ludwig asked picking up a business card

“Originally, I am from New York but out in the country, not the city.”

Ludwig nodded, “I get it. Everybody always thinks you’re from the city when you say you’re from New York.”

“You’re right,” Felciano laughed “So where are you from then?”

“ I’m originally from Pennsylvania, but I’m going to school in New York.”

“ Oh, nice, where?”

“Out in SUNY Ithaca”

“I’m actually over at SUNY Delhi,” Feliciano said. They have a pastry and culinary arts program as well as a good art department.

Ludwig blinked “It’s a small world,” he said

“It really is what are the odds?” Feliciano said, looking over Ludwig’s shoulder, he noticed a small line forming. “Not to be rude, but…” he waved a hand.

Ludwig looked over his should. “Oh, sorry!” he said, moving aside so a woman could look at Feliciano’s table. “Well, I guess I’ll see you at the café,” he said, a nod from Feliciano affirming he had heard him.

Moving to the next table, Ludwig looked at what looked like shoes. Just shoes.

“It’s a commentary on capitalism,” the artist said helpfully as Ludwig scanned the materials looking for something symbolic.

“Ah makes sense,” Ludwig said, moving on to find Mathias’s table. If he recalled correctly, the other man was on a split program for 1 month in France and another in London for fashion marketing and design. Spotting what looked like a likely set of booths, he wove his way through the crowd. He recognized one of Mathais’s plans as he approached the table, but the man was still off somewhere else. Nodding to the woman at the table, Ludwig introduced himself.

“Oh, Mathais mentioned you!” she said. “You must be the Ludwig that’s here for research?”

“That would be me,” Ludwig said wryly.

“Mathias was saying he was going to go look at the archives for inspiration for his ‘theme’ project,” she said, pointing to what Ludwig saw were rough sketches of 1910s esque clothing.

“He really liked some of the photos I found,” Ludwig offered picking up her card as he glanced through her things.

“I think its an interesting concept, but it would be easier to google it,” She said, turning to talk to another potential customer.

“mhmm,” Ludwig agreed, flipping through the design books. There were some interesting ideas for clothing for sure.

“What do you think,” a voice said behind him bumping his shoulder

“I think the lampshade hat is a bit too on the nose,” Ludwig said, bumping Mathias back. “It's nice, though.”

“You know how design is”

“I really really don’t,” Ludwig said with a smile, “But it’s definitely better than anything I could draw.”

“You should check out the hors-d’oeuvres Mathais said, heading behind the table.

“A snack might be nice,” Ludwig said, picking up Mathais’s business card. He had already friended the man on Facebook, but it never hurt to have a work contact too.

“Why are you here anyway?” Mathias said as he settled in, “I thought you were buried in a book.”

“The book is in the mail,” Ludwig sighed.

“Well its good to see you during the day, Tino was spreading the rumor you were a vampire.”

“Sometimes I feel like one” Ludwig said

“Well, avoid the garlic shrimp.”

“I am definitely not avoiding those that sound good,” Ludwig said with a wave, and he headed off to find some food.

* * *

What felt like an eternity later, Feliciano began packing up his things. While Feliciano liked doing exhibits (it was always good for business) doing what was essentially customer service and answering the same three questions (Did you draw that? Where did you draw that? Will you draw for me for free?) was tiring. Still, he was glad that Ludwig had dropped by after all. Something about Ludwig made him smile. Humming, Feliciano carried his things over to the door. It was going to be at least four trips back and forth, and then he and Felix would have to Jenga the boxes into the cab they were splitting to get back to their house. Stacking his bins neatly, Feliciano hurried to get his other things set up, always seemed like it took forever while takedown felt like a circus leaving town.

Finally, putting the last of his things by the door, Feliciano went to help Felix carry the last of his things. “Did you call the cab?” he asked as he gently placed the canvas portfolio bag by the rest of their things.

“I did,” Felix affirmed, “It should be here in five.”

Nodding Feliciano leaned against the wall and stretched, “So how did your stuff go?” he asked.

“Well, I think?” Felix said, “I sold four pieces and have some print orders.”

“Nice” Feliciano replied “I have a few digital commissions “

“I saw you had a visitor,” Felix said watching their cab pull up

“Who? Oh Ludwig” Feliciano shrugged

“The tall blond guy?” Felix said, waving to the driver and opening the back to put their things in.

“He’s at the café I work at a lot,” Feliciano said, handing Felix the bags.

“He looks familiar I think Matthias knows him?”

Felix tried to place Matthias in the constant flux of students who had gone in and out of the studio in the last few weeks.

“Danish?” Feliciano asked

“That’s the one,” Felix said, shutting the back of the cab, “All set?”

Feliciano looked around, “Looks like it.”

As they left, Feliciano wondered if it would be too weird to ask Matthias if he knew Ludwig next time he was in the studio.

* * *

Somehow Ludwig was roped into helping Matthias carry back his things from the expo.

“It’s only a few blocks” Matthias insisted

“You’re paying next time we get a drink,” Ludwig sighed, balancing two boxes and his bag awkwardly. At least the boxes weren’t heavy, just awkward.

As they waited to be let into the hostel, Ludwig asked: “Do you know a Feliciano ?”

“Yeah,” Matthias said distractedly. “Why?”

“Just wondering,” Ludwig said with a shrug putting the bins inside the entryway. It looked like he would be eating in tonight. At least it smelled appetizing. There had been steamed Brussel sprouts the other day. Going upstairs to change into causal clothes Ludwig also decided to do laundry. Putting his notes from earlier that day neatly into their spot in the folder Ludwig took his laptop and laundry down to the basement and dinner.

After dinner while his laundry dried Ludwig wondered if he would see Feliciano at the café the next day. Pulling the card Feliciano had given him out of his pocket Ludwig looked up the website while listening to his brother. He had decided to skype home and say hi and after the preliminaries Gilbert had begun on of his signature monologues. Apparently their neighbor was doing a poor job of keeping their chickens on their side of the fence and the dogs kept going after them.

Mumbling assent to Gilbert’s thoughts Ludwig scrolled through Feliciano’s website while listening. Smiling at what was was clearly a self-portrait of Feliciano and what looked like his brother Ludwig looked through the rest of the online portfolio. Maybe he would suggest his grandfather buy a painting. The stormy lake one looked like something the older man would have in his den. Tuning back in as his brother asked him a question Ludwig blinked “Do you mind repeating that?” he asked.

“I asked if you were getting out more” Gilbert said with a huff “Lud you look pale even for us”

Rolling his eyes Ludwig replied “It’s not like its super sunny here it isn’t Mexico”

“But you could at least see the light of day instead of being inside literally all day”

“I went out today” Ludwig said mildly. “I went to an art thing”

“Voluntarily?” Gilbert asked skeptically

“The museum won’t have my next set of materials until tomorrow Gilbert” Ludwig said with a shrug. “And I knew someone who was displaying there art so why not”

“Hmmmm” Gilbert said “Well I’m glad you got out. You should go on the weekend trip if you can”

Ludwig sighed “Maybe” he said non-committally. While he knew he needed to get out more the idea of going with the rest of the house to Bath and Stonehenge seemed…chaotic. Ludwig liked quiet and he liked order. If he was going to go do something he would prefer to do it by himself.

“Think about it” Gilbert insisted.

“I will I will” Ludwig said as he was interrupted by his timer. “Looks like laundry is up” he said.

“Byeeee” Gilbert drawled.

As Ludwig folded his clothes and carried them back up to his room he decided to make a choice about the trip tomorrow after making progress at the archives. Besides things were better if you slept on them.


	5. Chapter 5

Feliciano sighed as he looked out the window. Thick chilly fog enveloped the buildings, which while pretty meant a cold walk to work that day, although hopefully by the time he went to the studio that night, it would be dry. Packing an extra cardigan in his bag for the day, Feliciano headed down for a quick breakfast and some tea before work. Mid-morning short shifts on Wednesday were nice as they gave him time to wake up and let him have food before a long day split between work and the studio. He wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Nodding to Francis, who was sleepily waiting for the shower to open, Feliciano scooted down the stairs and into the dining room. Breathing in the scent of sausage and eggs, Feliciano happily got a tray and served himself breakfast. Placing his tray across from Owen, Feliciano went to go get a cup of tea. Finally settling down to eat, he looked over at the other student, “How are things going?” he asked, taking a bite of his eggs.

Owen shrugged, “I have two papers due this week for class.”

“Ick” Feliciano said

“Ick indeed,” Owen replied, brushing his black hair out of his eyes, “Are you coming to the tour this weekend?”

Feliciano nodded around a mouthful of sausage.

“We are going on a Jane Austen tour if you want to come,” Owen said

“Sounds terrible” Feliciano replied

“At the very least I think there will be authentic old-fashioned pastries,” Owen said “But we are supposed to be using it as inspiration for our final project.”

“Mmmm” Feliciano said, “I’ll think about it.”

“What were you planning on doing,” Owen asked.

“I was going to do the regular tour and then spend the day sketching the Roman ruins and the countryside,” Feliciano said, “If I can get enough good sketches, I can do them in pastel back in the studio or at home.”

“Nice,” Owen said, sipping his tea. “How’s the pastry business?”

“We’ll see when I get there,” Feliciano said, standing up to clean up his tray. “Eduard was supposed to get things set up before he left last night, so hopefully things won’t be on fire when I get in.”

“Hopefully,” Owen said. Feliciano and Eduard were not on the best of terms. Eduard tended to do things the easy way, and one day he had burned all of Feliciano’s scones.

Shrugging Feliciano cleaned up and went upstairs to get his things for the day. Grabbing his bag, he threw in his sketchbook to use as a base later in the studio. Hurrying back down the stairs, he pulled his coat off the hook by the door and went out into the cool morning.

* * *

Ludwig stretched in the dim light filtering through the window by the kitchenette. “Hurry up, Kiku,” He said, knocking on the door to the bath.

From the grumbling inside, Ludwig knew it would be awhile. Sighing, he went to start the kettle. At least he would have time for his coffee to cool from scalding hot to drinkable while Kiku finished in the shower. Filling the kettle with water and flipping the switch, Ludwig went around the corner to organize his things for the day. Keeping an ear out for the shower door to open, he double-checked his computer to see if the boxes had been delivered yet. They had moved in status from ‘in transit’ to ‘available’ a good sign Ludwig thought. Packing his computer with him in case it was a short day again, Ludwig grimaced at the cold mist outside the window. Hopefully, there would be hot water left, he thought as he heard Kiku close the door to his room. Moving back out to the kitchenette and bath area with his things, he dumped the hot water into his mug and put instant coffee in before heading into the shower.

Letting the lukewarm water wash over him, Ludwig relaxed. So yesterday had been a wash. These things happened. Today would be better, and today he’d see Feliciano at lunch so that would break up the day. It was weird how much he was looking for to it, he thought idly as he finished his shower. Drying his hair and dressing, he heard his phone ringing from the other room. Well, he wouldn’t make it anyway. Whatever it was could wait.

Finishing getting dressed, he grabbed his coffee cup on the way back to his room. 1 missed call from his advisor via the international app. Oops. Calling him back while he got his things for the day, Ludwig hit the other man’s voicemail. “Hey, Dr. Baum, its Ludwig. Just returning your call, I’ll be at the museum most of the day if you want to text,” Ludwig said, hanging up.

Heading down the stairs, Ludwig waved at the desk person on his way out the door. Pulling his coat on, he wondered if he should have brought an umbrella. Deciding to risk being a bit damp, Ludwig hurried along the street to the museum. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine it was the Victorian times, and Sherlock and Watson would come around the corner. Smiling slightly, Ludwig planned out his day in his head as he walked along the street. First thing would be to check on the status of his materials if they were in then; obviously, he would look through them, but if not he could work on summarizing each file he had saved and made notes on to make it easier to follow which letters or pictures when were in his thesis. If all went well, Ludwig could grab a spot in the café to work that afternoon after he ordered his next set of boxes.

Turning the corner, Ludwig glanced up at the misty gates to the museum. Taking a quick picture with his phone to send later, he went through and on to his day.

* * *

Feliciano wrinkled his nose at the sad-looking scones in the display case. “What happened” he plaintively asked Eliza.

She shrugged, “Eduard said he knew what he was doing; they still taste okay anyway.”

“But people will think I did them and think I make ugly pastries,” Feliciano grumbled, poking one of the stodgy scones which were clearly over baked and therefore flat.

“You can put a note up saying they aren’t yours,” Eliza suggested as she made another pot of coffee ahead of the noon rush.

“I’ll just get another set started,” Feliciano said, pushing up his sleeves and turning to pull out ingredients.

“Suit yourself,” Eliza said. “If you do them now, we can have some for the evening shift.”

The museum was open late on Wednesdays, so before Feliciano left for class at 4, he always restocked the entire case.

Nodding Feliciano got to work portioning out flour and salt and soda to make the perfect scones. Deciding on chocolate chip ones, he grabbed the bag from the shelf and mixed them in the dough. “How are we doing on muffins, Eliza” he called through the swinging doors to the kitchen.

“We need more lemon ones” she responded

“Gotcha,” Feliciano said, starting the batter for those as well.

An hour and a half later and the display was looking so much more presentable. Yellow pastel cupcakes with frosting sat neatly in stacks by perfectly crisped scones.

Cleaning up his pans in the kitchen, Feliciano eyed the clock. It was almost noon, which meant lunch crowd and maybe Ludwig.

Heading out form the kitchen to help Eliza, he began prepping the expresso machine for the anticipated order. Even if Ludwig didn’t drop by, having the expresso ready to go was a good step ahead.

“I can take orders today,” Feliciano offered to Eliza.

“Really? You never like taking orders,” She said, handing him the marker and logging off the till.

Feliciano shrugged, “You look like you need a break?” He usually enjoyed making the coffee and fetching food since it made the shift feel like one of those diner games complete with grumpy customers if you weren’t fast enough/

“Suit yourself,” Eliza said, prepping the coffee and food station to her preferred set up.

Looking around at the semi-empty café Feliciano knew it would be filled within an hour with tourists and researchers alike. Stretching his shoulders, he smiled at the elderly couple who were approaching the register. It was go time.

* * *

Ludwig looked at the last piece of paper in the box pushing his glasses up his nose he made a note on his paper and took a photo. It turned out that boxes were excellent today. Ready on time and full of things he could use, it was enough to make him want to take the rest of the day off. But that would start a pattern, and Ludwig didn’t want to start bad habits. Still, as he picked up the various papers and photos from the folder and began tucking them away, he felt the sense of a job well done. If he ordered the next set of boxes in this series, he could spend the rest of the afternoon at the café working and then come back tomorrow for the rest of the boxes.

Deciding that was the best approach, Ludwig picked up his things and turned the box in at the clerk's desk. “The ones I put in will be ready tomorrow, right?” he asked to double-check.

She flicked through the lists on her tablet “By noon” she affirmed

“Sounds good, thank you,” Ludwig said, turning to leave.

Weaving his way around the tourists gathered by the entrance to the special exhibit, Ludwig got his things from the locker room and headed to the café. Eyeing the long line, he scanned to see if there were any good seats left. Sighing when he saw they were all full, he decided he would have to sit upstairs in the common area outside of the central archive. While it was nice to people watch from up there, there was a certain ambiance that was lost.

Standing in line, Ludwig texted his advisor about his find while he waited. It turned out that Dr. Baum had wanted to check on his progress and if he needed help. Luckily this set of boxes had been good.

Stepping up to the register Ludwig waved at Feliciano “Hey” he said

“Hey,” Feliciano replied with a smile, “How are you doing today.”

“Pretty good!” Ludwig said, “They had what I needed today!”

“That’s great,” Felciano said, “So the usual?”

“One scone and expresso please,” Ludwig said

“Coming right up,” Feliciano nodded quickly, ringing him out. Looking around the café, he apologized, “Sorry, we are so busy.”

“It’s okay. I can sit upstairs,” Ludwig said, “It might be quieter there anyway.”

“Fair enough,” Feliciano said, handing him his change.

“Are you working late today?” Ludwig asked as he waited for his coffee.

“No, I’m out at four. I have open studio access on Wednesdays,” Feliciano said, beginning to tidy up from the rush.

“Hey umm,” Ludwig started pausing to think, “If I gave you my number, would you want to hang out sometime?”

Feliciano blinked at him

“As friends? It's not often you find someone else from the same part of the US while abroad,” Ludwig hastily added.

“Sure,” Feliciano said with a smile patting himself down. He found a pen and wrote his number on a napkin. “I’m on the chat app everyone is using while abroad,” he added.

“Sounds good,” Ludwig said, heart, fluttering for some strange reason as he took the piece of paper.

“Well, have a good afternoon!” Feliciano said, handing him his coffee and scone.

“Have fun at the studio!” Ludwig replied with a wave as he headed off to find a good spot to write already, putting the number in his phone.


	6. Chapter 6

Feliciano watched Ludwig walk away, frowning as he looked around the crowded café. While the line was gone, there was still a person at every seat, and the cream and sugar table was a mess. Resigning himself to cleaning up, he smiled as he felt his phone vibrate with a message must be Ludwig he thought resisting the urge to immediately look as he grabbed a bucket and cleaning cloth from behind the counter.

“I’m doing the lobby,” he called to Eliza, who was busy cleaning out the coffee machines.

“Sounds good,” She said, poking the hot grounds and paper into the bin.

Pulling his phone out as he began to pick up the table (empty sugar packets and straw wrappers in the bin), he grinned it was Ludwig, who had texted him.

Tucking it back in his pocket after replying with a smiley face, Feliciano began organizing the table and setting it up for the evening wave of customers.

“Is there anything else you need me to do?” Feliciano asked Eliza as he came back around the counter with the washtub.

“If the display is set, then no, you can do the till until you leave in an hour,” Eliza said distractedly as she organized the coffee shelf.

“Sounds good,” Feliciano said, pouring himself a cup of water and then going by the till.

Checking his phone, he saw that Ludwig had texted him back

“So, what are you doing at the café anyway?”

“My program has a business and marketing module, and the museum had a pastry/café internship, so why not?” Feliciano typed back before having to serve customers. The soft vibration he could feel as he finished his shift meant that Ludwig had replied, or at least someone had multiple times.

Finally, getting ready to leave for the day, Feliciano clocked out and waved to Eliza putting his bookbag over his shoulders. He had stocked the fridge and doublechecked all of the trashes before he left and set aside some pastries for Eduard to make the next day.

Checking his texts, Feliciano looked up as he left to see if he could spot Ludwig from the main floor. No luck. Shrugging, he opened that app to see that Ludwig had said that marketing was a smart thing to go into.

“I know,” Feliciano replied, “How’s the research going?” he added, heading out the door and into the gloomy sunlight.

Weaving around buskers and tourists on the way to the tube, Feliciano began mentally planning out his afternoon. If the studio was mostly empty, he could do a larger piece based off the skyline he had sketched the night before. But part of him wanted to do pastels he was doing a series of pastel prints with the café as the backdrop different customers and workers in the background of all of them. Part of him wanted to do another with Ludwig in the corner curled over his notes like the first day Feliciano had seen him. Putting in headphones as he walked down the stairs to the tube to get there, Feliciano waved to the same ticket monitor he saw every Wednesday and found an open spot on the train to sit.

“Good but slow,” Ludwig had replied, “I need to fit it all together” visualizing the mountain of papers in an archive, Feliciano shivered he was not a puzzle person.

He respected researchers but could not imagine being inside all the time and having so many bits and pieces to make sense of. Art and pastry were more straightforward. Two stops later, Feliciano got off to picked up food for then putting bread and sauce into his bag along with a soda. As he walked up the stairs to the studio, Feliciano was struck by how an ordinary gloomy day had somehow changed. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the successful expo the day before or if it was from Ludwig texting him, but Feliciano thought he could get used to this.

* * *

Ludwig was having a good day. While he wasn’t thrilled about being upstairs instead of in the café, he was enjoying the pillar of books going up next to him and the sunlight filtering in through the windows. The steady hum of tourists and researchers made him feel connected to people for the first time in weeks. As he answered emails, he also caught up on texts to friends and family back home. Sending Gilbert a picture of the tiny eagle he had picked up the other day and an interesting photo he found to his grandfather. Looking at Feliciano’s response to his asking why he was at the café, Ludwig nodded. It made sense to go into marketing if you were going into the arts. It also seemed to fit the other man's personality, and honestly, the scones were delicious. Ludwig wondered what made them so much better than the ones when he had first arrived. Reminding himself that he had things to do, Ludwig put in headphones and got to work. While he did enjoy sifting through old papers, the other fun part was piecing all the information together like a puzzle. Organizing his word document by category, Ludwig looked at his notes and matched the papers and box numbers to his outline. Letter 1a clearly went with letter 2b even if it was written by a completely different person. The story the letters told about a rainy day at a station in France on the way to the western front clearly went together. Matching his notes to the story, he had found Ludwig hesitantly began typing out the story of two different soldiers in the same war and their friendships. As he typed, he began feeling more confident time passing quickly by until suddenly he realized the sun had shifted to dim twilight, and the bustling concourse around him had gradually emptied. Stretching, he looked out over the museum and decided it might be time to head home. Checking his phone, his stomach grumbled, reminding him it was also probably time for food. Smiling at the picture, Feliciano had sent of the art studio Ludwig began packing up his things. Deciding to eat at the house, Ludwig walked down the stairs and considered swinging by the café to grab another scone to nibble on the way home. Walking by, however, he noticed they were out. Tragic. He texted Feliciano a sad face saying, “They were out, but I wish I had another scone.”

“They were out??” Feliciano immediately texted back to Ludwig’s surprise.

“I didn’t see any,” Ludwig replied as he waved to the security guard by the door and headed out.

“Maybe I can make extra’s next time you’re in” Feliciano texted back

Ludwig smiled

* * *

Feliciano stretched as he looked at the blank canvas he had done some pastels when he arrived. Finishing the project he had begun earlier that week beginning the picture Felix had suggested over coffee the other day. Looking at the canvas as he stretched each way, Feliciano decided what to do. Taking tracing paper, he transferred his sketches of the café to the canvas and began outlining the room with sweeping strokes of paint. Sketching out tables, chairs, counter, and eventually, the vague forms of people Feliciano relaxed into his work, mixing colors into the perfect shades. Turning up his music a little bit louder, Feliciano lightly dabbed lighter paint onto the canvas to catch the effect of light coming in through the windows.

“Who’s that?” Matthias asked from behind him, startling Feliciano into almost smearing the bottom of the painting.

Feliciano threw a paintbrush at the other man who scooted out of the way from the projectile.

“Don’t sneak up on me” Feliciano said, grumpily blinking at the painting eyes, focusing back out from the intense detail he had been working on.

“I was pretty loud when I came in,” Matthias said with a shrug moving over to get his things.

Felciano shook his head and began working on his painting again. He felt Matthias behind him again, “Can I help you ?” Feliciano said distractedly.

“I can’t place it, but that one looks familiar,” Matthias said, pointing to a man in the corner.

“It’s a researcher who’s been in at the café a lot lately,” Feliciano said as he rinsed his paintbrush in the jar nearby

“Hmmm,” Matthias said.

“What do you think?” Feliciano asked, standing to move the canvas to a safe place to dry.

“I like it. It’s more abstract than what you usually do,” Matthias commented.

Feliciano nodded the blurry thick strokes of paint on the canvas did make the café look more abstract, almost dreamlike but still real.

“Felix said you were going on the trip up to Bath this weekend?” Matthias asked as he thumbed through his pile of designs.

“Yes why?” Feliciano replied as he cleaned up his workspace.

“Some of us are going up Saturday we should meet up”

“That would be fun!” Feliciano said “I’ll let you know!”

With his workspace clean Feliciano said goodnight to Matthias and headed back to the house. Checking his phone as he walked, Feliciano saw he had missed texts from Owen and Ludwig ooops. Scrolling through them, he hoped Owen had put the Italian leftovers aside for him. A meatball sub would be delicious. Ludwig had asked if he would be around for lunch sometime. Feliciano debated how to answer. While he worked the next day, he was off Friday and usually took the time to work on art and take a break from the week. Since he was going on the trip Saturday, he had moved up his weekend homework to do it Friday instead. Thinking he texted that he might be available Friday

A maybe wasn’t a promise after all.


	7. Chapter 7

Ludwig took his time going to the archive the next day. Waking up and having breakfast with Kiku and Lukas, he listened to them plan their weekend as he ate his toast and eggs.

“Are you coming?” Lukas asked finally as Ludwig put down his empty cup of coffee.

“Is there space still” Ludwig replied curiously “I would have thought it would be full?”

“Margaret said there are still a few spots, but you have to get your own food since the lunch vouchers are gone,” Matthew said, putting his plate down on the table next to them.

“I think I’ll go then,” Ludwig said. “Things are moving along pretty well at the museum I think I’ll be done by Monday at the latest.”

“Nice,” Matthew said around a mouthful of bacon. Swallowing, he asked, “So, where are you going next then?”

“The last archive on my list is at the Wellcome, and then I’ll be heading home,” Ludwig replied. “Maybe if I have a day or two left after, I’ll do another tour or do a day trip to Paris.”

“You should do a nighttime tour,” Kiku suggested, “I went on a ghost one last week, and it was excellent.”

Ludwig nodded while Lukas rolled his eyes

“They’re all fake, you know that right?” He asked Kiku

“You never know,” Kiku said mildly “Besides a prison should be haunted if anywhere is going to be”

“He has a point,” Matthew said, sipping his juice.

Leaving them to argue about the existence of ghosts, Ludwig went to find Margaret and sign up for the tour. Settling that he passed Matthias and began getting together his things for the day.

Debating if it would be weird to text, Feliciano Ludwig settled for a picture of the gray sky outside his window, adding “rain or nah?” to the text.

“Take an umbrella” was Feliciano’s reply, “It’s rained every Thursday for the last 3 weeks.”

Smiling, Ludwig put his umbrella in his bag and headed out. He was planning on taking the long way to the archive circling around the row houses and past the Quaker meetinghouse/café, which had been his nesting spot the first week he was in London.

It was a nice if the grey day and Ludwig were struck by how different the side streets looked at lunchtime than at dinner time.

Finally, getting to the museum, he checked in and decided to stop by the café before he went to the archive. Instead of Feliciano, however, there was only Eliza and a different man. Deciding to come back later, Ludwig went to drop his things in the locker room.

“Didn’t see you at the café today?” he texted Feliciano as he put his things away.

“I have meetings Thursdays” came a response after Ludwig had gotten his materials for the day from the clerk.

“Have fun?” Ludwig replied before he too got to work.

* * *

Feliciano was having a day. While the evening before had been relaxing, he had gone back to bed with a nagging suspicion that he had forgotten something. The three emails he saw when he woke up reminded him what that was. Swearing slightly, Feliciano got dressed in a blur and headed out the door. Somehow he had forgotten it was Thursday. Shaking his head he hurried over to the building on campus that housed their study abroad management offices and dashed up the stairs.

“I am so sorry,” he gasped, slipping through the ajar door to his supervisor’s office.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “I hope you are more on time for your shifts,” she said finally as he sat.

Felicano’s cheeks flushed “I’m early” he said tersely.

“hmmm,” Natalia said shuffling her papers. “So how’s it going?”

“Well, I think?” Feliciano said

And there went his morning going through numbers and metrics with daily pastry purchasing evaluated against previous weeks. While Feliciano was pretty sure no one had ever failed the internship, Natalia’s sharp questions always made him rather anxious. Good preparation he supposed for a demanding boss.

“Well, it does look like it is going well,” She said finally. “ Make sure you check in with Scott at the museum on Monday and be on time!” she added.

Feliciano nodded picking up his copy of the papers and sorting them into some semblance of order.

“Oh and Feliciano?” Natalia added as he went to leave.

“Yes?” he asked as he turned door half open.

“Good job on the art expo” she said, turning back to the schedule for the day likely preparing for her next student/victim.

“Thanks,” Felciano said, feeling relieved.

With the hardest part of the day over, Feliciano headed over to a quiet spot on campus to type up his ‘what I learned in boating school’ essay for the week. Going through his standard outline, he plugged in the week’s information and checked the twitter feed he was supposed to be managing for the few weeks he was there. Updating the next week’s auto-feed with the suggestions Natalia had made, he added some digital drawings of the café he had done to make it more visually appealing as well as pictures of plated pastries.

Finishing around lunchtime, he stretched and checked his phone. Seeing the time, he decided to get some food and then head over to the studio for a bit. Walking back to the house, he texted Owen and Felix to arrange dinner plans and was surprised when he got a text from Ludwig asking where he was. Feeling guilty for not mentioning he wouldn’t be in till later that day, Feliciano quickly texted him back. Smiling at Ludwig’s response, he replied, “You too” and headed off to lunch.

* * *

Ludwig finished late that day the last few boxes being a mixture of indecipherable letters and photos with little context. Texting a picture of a letter to his brother Ludwig asked if he could maybe translate the messy handwriting as he packed up for the day. Realizing he had multiple missed texts from Matthias, he scanned them quickly. It looked like Lukas and the rest were going out for drinks instead of staying in. Deciding it would be best to have a quiet night; instead, Ludwig headed back to the house and did his usual evening routine. Wandering downstairs, he peeked into the game room. As expected, Matthew had stayed behind to do homework. “Order in?” he asked

“Sure,” Matthew said distractedly, “I don’t suppose you know anything about the economics of Rome?”

Ludwig shook his head “Sorry, but I’m more of the 1800s on sort of person. Why?”

“Class” Matthew said

“Good luck?” Ludwig offered “I was thinking Greek.”

“Sounds good just pick something” Matthew mumbled pecking away at his computer

Shrugging Ludwig went order food putzing around on his own computer while he waited for it to arrive. Realizing he hadn’t heard anything from Feliciano, he texted him, “how were the meetings?” before looking for something to watch on Netflix during dinner.

Standing up to get the food Ludwig laughed at the meme Feliciano had sent in reply of a dog in a room on fire.

“Mood,” he replied walking to the door.

Paying the delivery man, Ludwig brought the food back to the little student den and passed Matthew his food before sitting on the other couch with his laptop.

“So what went wrong?” he texted Feliciano

“Internship manager is just…aggressive” came the reply.

“My advisor can be like that sometimes” Ludwig texted back before starting his show. Good food and a quiet night in what could be better? Secretly part of him thought dinner with Feliciano but maybe that was him being stir crazy.

Digging into his food, however, Ludwig did have to admit Feliciano had made the last week a bit brighter than the endless blur of archive, dinner, and sleep the first two weeks had been. Regardless it was nice to make another friend.

* * *

Feliciano grimaced at his phone as he looked at the email Natalia had sent him following their meeting. Apparently, she thought his being late meant he was generally late and was planning on checking in with the café about his clock in and out times. Rolling his eyes, he replied that things were fine and he had simply been behind that day. While thinking she was overreacting, Feliciano knew she was mainly concerned with the school being allowed to have an intern next year in his position. Shaking it off, he went back to work blending the pastels on the paper until their edges blended together. The greys blending into blue on the edges of the paper as he traced thicker lines back over to clarify the outlines of the buildings. He was putting together his series of skylines and had spent the afternoon working on his evening and foggy versions. Wiping his hands off with a rag, he checked his phone for any other messages. Felix had brought food over an hour ago, and they had taken a dinner break to catch up on gossip. Felix’s boyfriend had made up with him, so that was nice. Feliciano gave it a week max though. Felix had finally prodded Feliciano enough for him to admit he maybe possibly like Ludwig.

“It’s not going to go anywhere,” he insisted to Felix. “I only see him at the café. It would be weird, and he’s probably leaving soon anyway.”

“So are you” Felix pointed out as he picked up their dishes to take back to the house.

“Fair” Feliciano had shrugged.

As he packed up, Feliciano thought about their conversation on the way home.


	8. Chapter 8

Ludwig woke up Saturday to a grey sky. Almost regretting signing up for the trip he got ready for the day packing an extra phone battery pack and a granola bar into his bag. As he got dressed he could hear other students who were going on the trip grumbling in the hallway. Hoping that one of the had turned the kettle on so he could at least have instant coffee before heading out Ludwig flipped his light off and closed the door. Nodding at Matthias who was watching the kettle boil in their kitchenette Ludwig leaned against the wall mug in hand. Matthias passed him the coffee and Ludwig dumped a generous amount in the cup yawning as he did so.  
With a click the pot shut off and Matthias dumped the hot water into first his mug then Ludwig’s . Stirring his coffee Matthias asked, “so why are you coming again today?”  
“ fresh air “ Ludwig said breathing in the bitter coffee scent the warm mug feeling good in the chilly day. “It’s been about three weeks since I’ve been anywhere but the library or museum during the day besides that excursion to the art expo earlier this week.”  
“You should get out more” Matthias said as he left the kitchenette and headed down the stairs.  
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Ludwig called after him as he added creamer and sugar to his cup and snapped the lid on.

Heading down the stairs he sat on the step above where everyone else was waiting. No use trying to get through the crowd since they were all by the door. The main students who were going to be using the trip for their class on ancient history and Britain were being reminded about their paper and what to pay attention to. Meanwhile Matthias and Kiku were bickering about window seats. Sighing Ludwig scanned the crowd if he had to sit with someone on the trip it was not going to be someone annoying. Grimacing Ludwig noticed there seemed to be only undergraduate students remaining. Matthias looked over sympathetically.

“Cheer up” he said “She said we were going on a bigger coach tour you might get to sit next to someone pretty”

“Nice” Ludwig said as the crowd of students started moving “So we just follow the crowd?”

“Yep” Matthias said picking up his backpack “the bus is picking us up by the sketchy Tesco in 20”

Nodding Ludwig followed Matthias and Kiku out the door. “So what are you planning on doing today?” he asked as they walked.

“I’m going on the cider brewing tour after the main one this morning” Matthias replied

“There’s a regency music concert in the square this afternoon weather pending” Kiku said showing Ludwig his phone.

“Neat” Ludwig said shivering in the chilly morning air.

“What are you planning on doing?” Matthias asked curiously “You weren’t planning on coming so I’m assuming you didn’t have a plan…”

“Thought I’d hike around town and try some ciders” Ludwig said “It’ll be nice change of scenery and maybe I’ll look at the baths too”

“Fair enough” Matthias said as the came up on the rest of the group huddled for warmth as they waited for the bus.

* * *

Feliciano grumbled and pushed his face into his pillow more. It was 7am why was anybody up this early on a Saturday??? With a thud someone was knocking on his door

“go awayyy,” Feliciano groaned into his pillow.  
“Feli, we’re leaving in an hour I thought you were coming?” Alfred said through the door.  
“Ah fudge” Feliciano said getting up and opening the door blearily with his cowlick sticking up.  
Alfred looked at him and cringed “man you look awful”  
“It was a long day yesterday,” Feliciano said. “Can you turn on the kettle? I’ll be down in a second”  
“Sure but we were going to stop at Starbucks on the way out.”  
“Never mind that’s better I’ll be down soon.”  
Feliciano shut the door to Alfred’s laughter and dressed at the speed of light looking out the window he cringed at the rain clouds in the distance and threw an extra pair of socks in his bag. All set, he said to himself. Heading down the stairs, Feliciano bumped into Owen, who was trudging back up the stairs. “Aren’t you coming?” he asked.   
“Yes, but Felix dropped coffee on me so I’m changing. Don’t let them leave without me!” Owen said grumpily.

Rolling his eyes Feliciano wandered to the dinning room where everyone was meeting before they left. Felix was still cleaning things up on one side of the room and waved a frustrated hand at Feliciano.

“The bus is by the Tesco off Russel” Lily said standing on a bench so people could see her “It leaves at 8:30 which is an hour from now if you are let it will leave without you” She handed out ponchos “We had some leftover ponchos if you need them to bring an umbrella.”

Feliciano passed on the poncho he had a windbreaker, and the small umbrella in his bag would be enough if it did rain.

“Is it just us on the trip?” Cherie asked taking the poncho Feliciano passed her

Lily shrugged, “the bus takes 75 people, and we only have 20, so I am assuming yes probably other students, not tourists since the company contracts with study abroad programs.”

Cherie nodded, turning to Feliciano. She asked, “you sitting with anyone?”

“Not yet,” he said, raising an eyebrow “why.”

“I don’t want to sit with a weirdo for 4 hours today,” Cherie said firmly as she put the poncho in her backpack.

“Fair enough,” Feliciano said “I guess we’ll see when we get there. Maybe people will ditch since its gloomy out.”

“Maybe,” Cherie said.

Feliciano followed her and Alfred out the door listening to them plan their day. Cherie was thinking of going on a glassworks tour while Alfred was planning on day drinking at the pubs.

Pulling out his phone to text his brother Feliciano saw a missed message from Matthias

“Weren’t you going to Bath today?” it said.

“Yeah why?” Feliciano replied before texting his brother his plans for the day. Ignoring Matthias’s response for a second Feliciano sent a picture of the misty clouds over the skyline to Lovino.

Checking Matthias’s message Feliciano blinked, “I think we are on the same tour?” he read aloud. Picking up his pace to walk next to Lily, he asked, “Do you know which other abroad programs are on this trip?”   
Lily shrugged as she turned the corner. “I know it’s the UCL kids and us and maybe some students from the SUNY house by them. Why?”

“Just wondering,” Feliciano said, texting Matthias back. “Maybe????”

As they got to the Starbucks and waited in line, Feliciano elbowed Felix, “Hey, look what Matthias sent?”

Felix rolled his eyes “So that means Ludwig is on this trip.”

“Maybe,” muttered Feliciano as they placed their orders.

“Don’t be too weird?” Felix said as they waited, “Be normal.”

Feliciano gave him a withering look, “I am normal.”

“Be more normal?” Felix said, looking up from his phone.

Shaking his head, Feliciano texted Ludwig asking if he was going on the Bath trip with Matthias.

“Yes, why?”

“I think we are on the same trip” Feliciano typed back as they headed out and down the last few blocks to the meetup spot. As they approached he scanned the crowd, quickly spotting the tall figure of Matthias and Ludwig next to him. Waving, Feliciano walked over with his group.

“Hey,” he said

“Hey,” Ludwig replied looking at the rest of the group that had come with him. Some of them looked familiar.

“What are the odds,” Feliciano asked, sipping his coffee the warm cup cradled in his hands.

“I’m surprised,” Ludwig said honestly, “Glad I came after all, though.”

Matthias kicked his ankle, “told you it was worth it to come.”

“You said I was becoming a vampire,” Ludwig muttered, looking over the crowd to the gentleman walking up with an electric green umbrella and what looked like mini guide maps.

“All right, you lot!” The man said with a wave of his umbrella, “You must be the 8:30 tour?”

“That would be us,” Lily said, stepping forward with someone from what must have been Ludwig’s group.

As they sorted things out, Ludwig turned to Feliciano, “Are you sitting with anyone?”

“No, what about you?” Feliciano responded, passing Ludwig what turned out to be a map and a guide to the town of Bath as they circulated.

“Okay, listen up” the umbrella man shouted over the suddenly loud group of college students “My name is Arthur I’ll be your guide for today follow the umbrella when we get off in Bath. I will be giving some details about the countryside as we travel there and am available for side tours after the main one this morning. No drinking, drugs or smoking on the bus. And If you are late for pick up at 6:30 this evening we _will_ leave you in Bath” Arthur said sounding like he meant it and like he had done it before.

Nodding in unison, the group was then ushered to the doors of the bus.

“So, seat buddies?” Ludwig asked as they waited to board.

“Sounds good,” Feliciano said, climbing up the steps onto the bus.

Picking a spot halfway back Feliciano put his bag on top of the shelf so it wouldn’t crowd the seat.

“Window or walkway?” He asked Ludwig looking up at the taller man.

“Walkway” Ludwig said, tucking his bag above them as well.

Slipping onto the seat by the window, Feliciano settled in as Ludwig awkwardly folded himself into the seat next to him.

As people settled into their seats, Arthur did a headcount. “Remember your seatmate,” he said, “when we leave, I’ll ask if you have your buddy. If you say no, maybe we’ll wait, but we probably won’t, so be on time.”

Feliciano turned to Ludwig, “Please don’t let them leave me in Bath.”

“Why would you be late for the bus?” Ludwig whispered back under the announcements as the bus started off.

“Sheep?” Feliciano said, pulling out the map “Freak accident?”

As Ludwig looked at his map, he offered another reason, “Attacked by geese?”

Feliciano looked at the note on the pamphlet. *Do not feed the geese they are known to bite* “Really?” he asked.

“Looks like it,” Ludwig replied.

Smothering a laugh, Feliciano turned his attention to Arthur, who was telling the bus about a legend attached to a local park they were passing.

It was a sad legend with lost love, while Arthur said it was unlikely to be true Feliciano could see why people would tell legends about the area.

With Arthur taking a break for a while until they left the city limits, Feliciano watched the scenery go by.

“So,” Ludwig began.

“Hmmm?” Feliciano said, turning to him.

“What were you planning on doing today?” Ludwig asked. 

Feliciano shrugged, “I was going to draw for a bit and maybe window shop? What about you?”

Ludwig rubbed the back of his head, “Fresh air, maybe I’ll walk across the bridge and see what's over there?” He pointed to the path on the map.

Feliciano looked and nodded “It might be a good spot to draw maybe I’ll come along if you don’t mind?” he said tentatively.

“Not at all!” Ludwig quickly said as he folded the map carefully.

Matthias leaned over across the aisle. “We should grab lunch somewhere together,” he told Feliciano.

“I’m sure Felix would be down,” Feliciano said, leaning over Ludwig. Felix’s head popped up a few seats ahead as he looked back.

“I’m down for lunch,” he called.

Nodding Feliciano sat back in his seat and listened to Ludwig, and Matthias hashed out what exactly they were thinking of for lunch. 

* * *

Feliciano jolted awake to a light touch on his shoulder

“Hey,” Ludwig said sheepishly “You fell asleep.”

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Feliciano realized the bus was slowing down. The last thing he had remembered was the rain starting while Arthur had droned on about the countryside. “Did I miss anything?” he asked, resisting the urge to rub his eyes like a child.

“We saw Wales in the distance,” Ludwig said

“I thought those lived in the ocean,” Feliciano said automatically, then catching himself. “Wait, I mean…”

Ludwig snickered at him. “I did not see any whales in Wales,” he eventually said with a straight face as Feliciano looked out the window to what now seemed like a sunny day.

“Hey it stopped raining!” he said happily turning towards Ludwig

“It did,” Ludwig said, looking over and out the window “We are ten minutes out, by the way.”

“Sounds good,” said Feliciano looking at his phone Felix had been texting him while he napped

‘I can’t /believe/ you fell asleep’ read one

Shaking his head Feliciano texted back, “It was a 3-hour car trip, what do you want from me?”

Putting his phone back in his pocket Feliciano perked up as the bus pulled into a large semi-circle in the quaint little town of Bath.

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I will meet you in 1 hour by the fountain near the Church as I pointed out on the map,” Arthur said over the loudspeaker. “If you want to go on the guided tour meet me there or else meet here by 6:30.”

Nodding collectively the bus began to empty.

Feliciano turned to Ludwig, who was up and getting down his backpack.“what fountain?”

“He showed us all on the map while you were sleeping,” Ludwig said, handing him his backpack and letting Feliciano get in front of him.

“So, you know where it is then?” Feliciano asked as he got off the bus.

“I think so?” Ludwig replied, “Were you planning on taking the tour?”

“I don’t know,” Feliciano shrugged as he rolled up his sleeves and tucked his light coat into his bag, pulling it over his shoulder. “Were you?”

“Not really,” Ludwig said, looking up at the clear blue sky. “I kinda just want to wander?”

“Sounds good to me,” Feliciano said trying to finger comb his messy hair back into normalcy

“It looks fine, you know” Ludwig said as he walked passed him, unfolding the map to figure out where they were.

“What?” Feliciano followed him

“Your hair it looks good,” Ludwig said looking at the map.

Feliciano could feel himself blushing, and he willed it away as hard as he could. “Ah. So…” he said looking at his own map next to Ludwig. “Where are we going?”

“I was thinking up to the circle where the market is and then down and around the river and the market bridge” Ludwig replied.

Feliciano nodded, trying to find the locations on the map.

“You have the map upsidedown,” Ludwig said, looking over with a sigh flipping it over and pointing to where they were and where the market and bridge were.

“Sorry,” Feliciano said. “I’m not very good at directions.”

“It’s fine,” Ludwig said, looking behind them at Matthias and Lukas, who were arguing about which pub to go to first.

“Do they serve alcohol this early?” Feliciano asked, following his gaze.

“Who knows,” Ludwig said dryly.

Laughing, they went to explore Bath.


	9. Chapter 9

Ludwig was having a good day. The surprise of Feliciano being along for the trip he had taken with his friends had shifted to the enjoyment of a day spent in the fresh air with people instead of being inside. Thinking ruefully about the sunburn he would likely have the next day, Ludwig turned to watch Feliciano, who was sketching the village’s main square with quick strokes across a sketchbook.

They had gone for to the market, and Feliciano had bought a painting from a street artist of the city while Ludwig had looked at the rock and crystals for sale nearby. Eventually wandering back to the square, they had met up with Matthias and Lukas for a late lunch people watching and listening to the many tours that were beginning and ending in the square. Matthias, Lukas, and Felix had begun to rating the many ways the tour guides tried to stand out. From bright umbrellas like Arthurs to group t-shirts and hats with flags on them. Feliciano had gotten food and then moved into the sun to sketch while the rest of them began trying the various ciders.

Grabbing an apple cherry-flavored cider, Ludwig took it out to Feliciano. “How’s it going,” he asked the absorbed artist, offering him the drink.

Feliciano took it with a smile, looking up at him. “Well,” he said, handing Ludwig the sketchbook.

Ludwig could clearly see the scene in the square blocky buildings and arched roman pillars. “It’s lovely,” he said honestly.

Feliciano sipped the drink looking out over the square. “Thank you,” he said, “I’ll take it back and use pastels to flesh it out.”

“Nice,” Ludwig sat next to him and looked up at the sun. “Where do you want to go next?”

“Maybe by the bridge?” Feliciano said tentatively, taking a long sip of the drink. “This is good,” he added, looking at the bottle and pulling his phone out to take a picture of the label.

“what are you doing?” Ludwig asked curiously.

“I’ll remember which type of cider it is,” Feliciano said simply finishing the drink “The first week I was here there were so many types of cider it was hard to remember which ones I had tried.”

“Makes sense,” Ludwig said thoughtfully as Feliciano took the bottle back to the table.

Waving at their friends, they headed out to the bridge and waterside the bright afternoon sun.

6pm saw them waiting in the circle for the bus sipping another drink as they waited. Matthias and Lukas were definitely a smidge under the weather Feliciano thought as he carried the sample set of beers and cider back to where they were sitting.

Passing around the small cups, Feliciano sat to sip his unconsciously leaning into Ludwig until he realized the other man had gone ridged.

Sitting up hastily, he apologized, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean..”

“It’s fine” Ludwig reassured him quickly "I was just surprised".

Feliciano ignored the eye-roll from Matthias from behind Ludwig’s head.

“Okay,” he said, settling back into the seat Ludwig’s relaxed form providing a buffer between the hard edge of the table.

Lukas leaned over “Hey, Feli, want to go out when we get back.”

Feliciano thought about it, “Maybe?” he asked, “Where?”

Matthias leaned over “There’s trivia at one of the bars by us. You’re good at that, aren’t you, Ludwig.”

Ludwig fought back the urge to facepalm. His friends were being very obvious.

Feliciano looked at him, tentatively, “You are?”

“A bit,” Ludwig said ruefully.

“Let's go then,” Feliciano said happily watching the bus pull up.

As they got on he could feel that this might be the beginning of something after all a feeling he hoped Ludwig shared.

* * *

Feliciano awoke, feeling like he had been hit by a train. Pushing his face farther into his pillow, he stifled a groan. How much had he drank? The throbbing headache he had told him the answer was far too much, but honestly, who would have thought cider was that potent. Forcing himself to roll out of bed Feliciano realized he was still wearing yesterday’s clothes. Wrinkling his nose, he stripped out of his clothes, kicking the pile towards his laundry bag with his foot. Standing there, he thought about how he had gotten home.

He remembered the wonderful day in Bath with Ludwig. They had met up with Matthias and Lukas to have a few drinks in before heading home, and then Lukas had talked him into going out with them again when they got back to London….

Suddenly Feliciano felt like he had been hit by a brick. “Oh god,” he said, flopping back onto the bed hands over his face. He remembered kissing Ludwig on the cheek, laughing after they had won trivia.

“Fuck” he said to no one in particular, “fuckity fuck.”

Checking his phone, he saw he had missed texts from Felix and Owen. Groaning, he closed his eyes and let his head drop back to the bed. Taking a second to die a little on the inside, he finally got up and began to pull out clean clothes. Opening the door to go to the bath down the hall, he found a bottle of electrolyte drink and a note in front of his door. Taking them with him to the bath down the hall, he cracked the drink open and read the note as he waited for the water to get hot.

“Assuming you feel like death, come find Matthias and me at the studio when you wake up.”

From the “are you dead” text he had received at 11am Felix had assumed Feliciano would have woken up earlier.

The “how’s the hangover” text from Owen was replied to with an appropriate emoji.

Texting back “alive” to Felix, Feliciano got in the shower and chugged the drink, letting the hot water and hydration soothe away his headache.

Standing under the water, he wondered if Ludwig remembered the kiss. Unconsciously touching his own lips, Feliciano was torn between hoping he did and praying he didn’t.

At least it had been Felix that had put him to bed, he thought as he lathered up finally. Maybe the night hadn’t been a total disaster? He tried encouraging himself the effort of falling a little flat despite his innately buoyant personality.

Feliciano knew he would have to talk to Ludwig about this…what ever this was, and he hoped it wouldn’t go wrong.

* * *

Sunday saw Ludwig taking the day to refresh and think. Between the late day the night before and the sudden realization that he liked Feliciano as more than just a person at the café, he spent the morning thinking and planning out the next week. As he looked through the Library’s page of results, his mind kept wandering back to Feliciano. “It wasn’t even a real kiss,” he grumbled at himself, wanting to slam his head into the desk “Focus,” he told himself.

He had two weeks to finish finding what he needed for the next two semesters of school, and the idea of failing to find the rest of his information was like a distant storm. Shivering despite the nice weather outside his open window Ludwig got back to work scrolling through the Wellcome and the British Library pages and requesting everything ahead of time to avoid mistakes like he had made at the museum.

The museum….Ludwig wondered if he could take a lunch break each afternoon and stop by the café to say hi to Feliciano or if that would be too much time spent away from his work….

Realizing he was never going to be able to focus, he got up and went looking for Matthias.

Knocking on Kiku’s door and Lukas’s with no answer, he realized they had probably gone out. It was a nice day, after all. Wandering down the stairs, Ludwig looked in the back garden of the hostel and found Matthew reading in an alcove.

“Hey,” he said, “Where is everyone?”

“School or art studio,” Matthew replied. “Although I think Madeline and Toris were going to Harrods to window shop.”

“Fun,” Ludwig said sitting on a bench nearby

Matthew looked up from his book, “You should probably put some aloe on your face,” he said, peering over.

Ludwig resisted the urge to touch his face. “The sunburn isn’t that bad,” he insisted.

“It most definitely is” Matthew informed him going back to his book

“It wasn’t even that sunny yesterday,” Ludwig said

“hmmm,” Matthew said non-committally.

Shrugging, Ludwig went back inside and headed down to the kitchen. If he couldn’t think or bounce ideas off of his friends, he was at least going to have coffee and a snack. Cleaning out the coffee machine and refilling it, Ludwig checked his phone and texted Matthias. “You busy?”

Listening to the coffee drip into the pot, Ludwig took a second to breath and then texted Feliciano. “Hey hope your day is going well.”

All he could do now was wait. Ludwig’s phone finally buzzed around 1pm after he finished both lunch and his coffee. Pausing as he put the dishes away, he checked to see who it was.

“Hey” Feliciano had said “Sorry about last night.”

“It's okay!” Ludwig quickly texted back, leaning against the counter as he waited for a reply.

“What are you up to today?” Feliciano responded. Ludwig thought for a second about how to respond.

“Paperwork,” Ludwig finally responded, sighing internally sure Feliciano now sober would think he was the most boring person in the world.

“I should be doing paperwork too” Feliciano responded

Taking a deep breath, Ludwig sent the riskiest text he had sent all year.

“Do you want to do paperwork together?”

* * *

Feliciano blinked at the text showing it to Matthias as he slumped against the window frame. Matthias smiled, encouragingly turning his attention back to his fabric swatches Felix coming over to look at the text as well.

“You should say yes,” Felix said.

“But what if he is mad,” Feliciano said plaintively closing his eyes against the last twinge of his headache.

Matthias shrugged, “If he was mad, you’d know,” he said, pulling out fabric tape from his art materials.

Felix nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Feliciano sent back, “Sure, where?”

“Okay then,” he told them “I’ll let you know how it goes.”


	10. Chapter 10

Feliciano nervously adjusted the collar of his shirt as he sat at the table, waiting for Ludwig. They had agreed to meet at the Quaker study rooms between their hostels and after getting his drink ( a weirdly fizzy iced sweet tea). Looking over the crowd as he pulled out his laptop and began working on his homework Feliciano pushed away from the worry that maybe Ludwig wouldn’t show up. From what he knew of the man, Ludwig seemed to be a reliable individual. Peering at the little numbers at the bottom of his receipt, Feliciano typed in the code. Looking up as he pulled out his inventory and sales notes for the week, he noticed Ludwig looking around the café for him.

Waving to get his attention Feliciano smiled as he walked over. “Hey,” he said, looking up at him.

“Hey,” Ludwig said with a smile dropping his bag on the seat “I’m going to get something did you need anything?”

Feliciano shook his head, gesturing to his cup of tea. “I’m fine,” he said, “Oh, but you should see if you can ask Marta for an extra internet code since she’s sometimes nice” he pulled out his extra slip to show Ludwig.

Ludwig nodded, “Good idea,” he replied, unpacking his things before setting off to get a drink.

Watching Ludwig put his things in order across from him, Feliciano was struck by how different they set up their homework. Feliciano’s papers were a bit .messy, stacked in a pile that Feliciano knew was out of order but worked for him. Ludwig seemed to have three different note pads going with what seemed like random numbers written on them and notecards. Very Zen Feliciano thought as he agreed to watch Ludwig’s things while the other man went to presumably get coffee.

Pulling up his word doc, Feliciano began pecking away at the keys, pausing every so to look at his data. Would tweaking his twitter posts help drive traffic? Thinking as he sipped his tea Feliciano looked up as Ludwig put down a teapot and cups.

“I’ll be right back,” Ludwig told him

Feliciano leaned over the pot after he left lifting the lid. Mhmmm mint…

“Ludwig came back with a small sugar bowl and what was presumably milk in a little pitcher.

“Fancy,” Feliciano said, watching Ludwig arrange their table so their work and the tea fit.

Ludwig shrugged “I figured today might be a good tea day,” he said finally sitting down

“It is a good day for tea,” Feliciano said, thoughtfully, going back to his work.

Ludwig cleared his throat as he began doing his work as well, “Feliciano?”

“Yes?” Feliciano looked up over his laptop

“I didn’t really want to work on paperwork today,” Ludwig finally admitted after what felt like ages to Feliciano.

Feliciano tentatively pushed his laptop closed, leaning on his hand as he looked across the table. “So what did you want to do then?” he asked.

“See you again?” Ludwig asked, “I was worried that maybe after yesterday…”

“I am so sorry about yesterday!” Feliciano cut him off. “I don’t know what I was thinking!”

“No, no, it's okay,” Ludwig said hastily “I just…I won’t be back at the museum this week and wanted to tell you in person instead of texting you?”

“oh,” Feliciano said “it's not because of…” he waved a hand trying to encompass drunken flirting and a kiss in it.

“No, I just finished going through what I needed to at the museum,” Ludwig reassured him, gesturing at his pile of notes on the table. “I’ll be at the Welcome next door to here and the British Library the next few weeks.”

“ So, I won’t be seeing you again then?” Feliciano asked, trying to push down the feeling of loss.

Ludwig shook his head “actually, I was hoping to ask you about that,” he said, pouring himself a cup of tea and pushing the pot over to Feliciano.

Feliciano looked at him curiously as he poured his own cup of tea and added milk and sugar.

Ludwig shifted clearly trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say finally he asked: “Would you want to meet up for lunch or something every other day or…”

Feliciano smiled and nodded. “Of course I would,” he said happily, almost spilling the tea as he emoted.

Ludwig eyed the precarious cup on the edge of the table, moving it before Feliciano’s hand hit it as he continued to talk.

“We should try the pizza place by the Library sometime for lunch!” Feliciano said, taking his teacup back from Ludwig.

“I’m down for pizza,” Ludwig said tentatively “Are you sure that will work out in your work schedule?”

Feliciano thought for a second. “I have meetings some mornings, but I usually do afternoons at the café with an occasional morning shift?” he shrugged. “So, I could meet up before work or after work for a late lunch?”

“That would be a good reading break then,” Ludwig said with a smile

Feliciano smiled back the warm cup of tea in his hands, mimicking the warm feeling spreading from his heart. “So,” he asked, “Are we actually doing work, or is this a date?”

“Both?” Ludwig offered turning a bit pink again as Feliciano laughed and opened his laptop again.

“You know,” Feliciano said, looking over the top at Ludwig, who was waiting for his computer to boot up. “You never told me about what you were here researching?”

Ludwig seemed to think for a second “Do you want the long version or the polite not actually caring version?” he finally said

Feliciano shrugged, looking over his papers and moved them to find the one he needed. “Whichever one you want to tell me?” he asked, “I’m guessing people don’t want to listen to the long version.”

“They think its boring” Ludwig admitted sheepishly

“It can’t be boring if you’re doing it,” Feliciano said, pausing to look over. He meant it Ludwig was one of the more interesting people he had met since he had gotten there.

“I’m looking at male friendship during the Great War” Ludwig finally said after a second of organizing his own things

“ ‘Friendship’ or _Friendship,_ ” Feliciano asked now intrigued

“Both? Neither?” Ludwig said, “It’s complicated” he pushed some photos across the table to Feliciano. “Sometimes it seems like a bit of both for some, and sometimes it’s a ‘your my best friend, but I have a wife back home’ sort of thing.”

“Sounds sad,” Feliciano said fingers tracing over laughing faces under what must have been a clear blue sky.

“It is,” Ludwig admitted. “But sometimes they went home and ended up being gentleman bachelors, so there's that” he traded Feliciano the other pictures for another one of two men in front of what looked like a pub.

Feliciano smiled as he looked at them. “I’m glad they found a happy ending,” he said hoping that this might be theirs.


	11. Chapter 11

The next few days were a blur for Feliciano between checking in with his internship manager and running numbers with his boss to show that sales of scones had indeed gone up since the introduction of a little chalkboard updated each day with new art and the pastry of the day. It felt like he had been running a marathon by noon. Slumping into a chair in the corner of the café on his break Feliciano rested his head against the wall and breathed closing his eyes. He would have to write today’s meetings up later when he got home for his ‘what I did abroad’ paper on marketing and pastry. On the bright side, his manager had been interested in the art of the café and was willing to consider prints of his work if the board approved them for fundraising.

He heard someone awkwardly clear their throat in front of him and instantly perked up so quickly he felt like he pulled something in his neck. “Hi,” he said, looking up, realizing it was Ludwig as he rubbed his neck.

“Is this seat taken?” Ludwig asked, holding his laptop bag and looking stressed.

“Nope,” Feliciano said

“You look like things aren’t going well,” he said eyeing the uncharacteristic messy figure Ludwig presented

“The papers I was looking at today are from the ubervault, so no bags allowed,” Ludwig said, resignedly putting his laptop and papers on the table. “You have to put everything in a little plastic baggy like in prison.

“That sounds annoying” Felciano said eyeing the stack of paper

“It is” Ludwig said. “Do you mind watching my laptop while I get coffee??” he asked tentatively.

“No problem” Felciano said “You should try the lemon scones they’re new.”

“Thanks for the suggestion,” Ludwig said, heading up to the counter.

Watching Ludwig order, Feliciano felt warm inside like the stress of the day had melted away. He had only known Ludwig for a bit more than a week and yet seeing him made the day a little bit better.

It had been four days since their _talk_ and this was the second time they had managed to meet up. Ludwig’s research at the British Library had seemed to be going well. If more complicated than Feliciano really understood.

Watching Ludwig come back with a small plate and coffee, Feliciano thought about how lucky he was.

“Hey Ludwig,” he said as the other man nibbled at the scone.

The raised eyebrow he got in response was enough to know the other man was listening.

“Would you want to stay in touch when we get back to the states?” Feliciano asked, hopefully.

Ludwig swallowed an absolutely enormous bite of scone sputtering a bit. “of course?” he finally said, “I mean I thought you’d want to…?”

Feliciano smiled “Of course I would!” he said “I just didn’t want to assume!”

Ludwig grinned back at him “If you want to take a road trip I’m sure you’d like Ithica. They have some interesting art and food spots!”

“I can’t wait,” Feliciano said honestly, watching Ludwig finish the last of the scone. “If you come up to my part of New York, I’m sure my brother would cook for you. He makes excellent lasagna.”

Ludwig nodded, watching the sunshine reflecting off the windows making a shimmering pattern of light surround Feliciano.

“I can’t wait,” he said.

**Author's Note:**

> I will admit to merging multiple parts of the British Museum system together in this fic. As a graduate student I've spent time bopping around to a variety of archives for research much like Ludwig and while I did not fall in love with a café person getting my coffee halfway through the day was literally the highlight of the whole thing. That and the wonderful tea.


End file.
